Sure, he'd have to have some ungodly power, but I feel like once you print Mind Sculptor, you're OK to print a powerful Urza Planeswalker.
That makes no sense. They already printed Ancestral Recall; that doesn't mean it's fine to print more undercosted draw spells.
Also, people really need to get over Urza.
What I mean here is that Jace, The Mind Sculptor was powerful but not so powerful there's zero way to get around him. That's what I mean when I say you're "ok to print" a powerful Urza - its been demonstrated that Wizards is developing a better handle on power balancing, to a degree.
Part of me feels like the Lorwyn Five need to be retired already. I mean, after Jace The Mind Sculptor, I dunno where else you could take Jace in card form except perhaps to give him one of the three Power 9 blue spells in some capacity. Anything else would seem like an odd power reduction.
I feel like we're looking at the last versions of the Five for a while. Ajani looks to have gotten his "Mind Sculptor" treatment with Mentor of Heroes, Elspeth was sunsetted in grand fashion, Liliana (who most people seem to forget is a planeswalker, so kudos for getting her on the list) is off god knows where, not contributing to the storyline at all (selfish necromancers...).
If Wizards is slowly sunsetting the original planeswalkers, I say kudos and they couldn't have given each a better send off. I could use one more version of Liliana, though.
What I'd really, really like to see (though it won't happen) is the return of the "Golden Age" planeswalkers, in maybe a Timeshifted set or something. I'm talking Urza, Teferi, et al. Urza especially. Sure, he'd have to have some ungodly power, but I feel like once you print Mind Sculptor, you're OK to print a powerful Urza Planeswalker. And yes, I know technically Wizards gave us a "version" of Urza since Karn has Urza's spark, or some of his essence, I can't recall which exactly, and technically (if you think about it from a lore perspective) Karn is the most powerful planeswalker of all, since he basically struts around booting things (including other planeswalkers) off of whatever plane he's on, then rewinds time itself and calls back the stuff he booted off the plane. If that ain't power I dunno what is.
I disagree. I think the Lorwyn 5 do a good job at representing what each color is about and should continue that role. Jace, Architect of Thought is also a powerful and balanced version of Jace. His -2 is a homage to Fact of Fiction so definitely not bad.
Also Karn more powerful than Nicol Bolas? Is that a fact or just guessing?
If you look at their card effects and think about them from a Vorthos-y perspective, Karn is technically more powerful than Nicol Bolas since he appears to have mastery over time itself. If you think of the duel between you and the other player as an actual wizards duel, then Karn joining the fight, he eventually just says "screw this, lets start over" and takes you back in time to the start of the duel.
It could be argued that Nicol Bolas has a similar power level *in game*, based on his card abilities, but thematically, Karn seems to be the more powerful planeswalker, since everything Nicol Bolas does affects the current duel and he doesn't seem to have the ability to exile things from the current "plane" the duel is taking place on.
When I was thinking about it originally, I had forgotten that Karn had taken Venser's spark, though, and that he lost most of his original spark trying to save Tolaria, but it appears that he still has some of Urza's power within him based on Karn, Liberated. I'd argue that Karn is the more powerful of the two, if it were to ever come down to a one on one fight in the lore.
Jace, Architect of Thought is powerful, sure, my timeline got screwy and I was thinking Mind Sculptor came after Architect for some reason. My feeling is we need a new set of the "lorwyn five", though as they've become the poster children for "New Magic", you could be right in that they aren't experiencing a sunset. The fact that they've only truly "killed" planeswalkers that aren't among the Five certainly is a point towards your way of thinking.
Part of me feels like the Lorwyn Five need to be retired already. I mean, after Jace The Mind Sculptor, I dunno where else you could take Jace in card form except perhaps to give him one of the three Power 9 blue spells in some capacity. Anything else would seem like an odd power reduction.
I feel like we're looking at the last versions of the Five for a while. Ajani looks to have gotten his "Mind Sculptor" treatment with Mentor of Heroes, Elspeth was sunsetted in grand fashion, Liliana (who most people seem to forget is a planeswalker, so kudos for getting her on the list) is off god knows where, not contributing to the storyline at all (selfish necromancers...).
If Wizards is slowly sunsetting the original planeswalkers, I say kudos and they couldn't have given each a better send off. I could use one more version of Liliana, though.
What I'd really, really like to see (though it won't happen) is the return of the "Golden Age" planeswalkers, in maybe a Timeshifted set or something. I'm talking Urza, Teferi, et al. Urza especially. Sure, he'd have to have some ungodly power, but I feel like once you print Mind Sculptor, you're OK to print a powerful Urza Planeswalker. And yes, I know technically Wizards gave us a "version" of Urza since Karn has Urza's spark, or some of his essence, I can't recall which exactly, and technically (if you think about it from a lore perspective) Karn is the most powerful planeswalker of all, since he basically struts around booting things (including other planeswalkers) off of whatever plane he's on, then rewinds time itself and calls back the stuff he booted off the plane. If that ain't power I dunno what is.
It looks like CCTSubaki is back at it, selling foil proxies and what not. I've reported him to both Wizards of the Coast and eBay. I would urge others in the community to do the same.
These are insanely broken. Insanely. Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam would like to speak with you about these lands.
Here's how I would fix them, if you're still interested in making these playable in your casual playgroup. Also in future, your abilities should only have one colon. Everything before it is the cost, everything after it is the ability.
Tropical Paradise
Land
When Tropical Paradise enters the battlefield, you lose 2 life.
T: Add U or G to your mana pool.
T, Pay 1 life, Exile Tropical Paradise: Search your library for an Island or Forst card and put it onto the battlefield. Then, shuffle your library.
Diabolic intent might work well with your sac fodder. How has sudden spoiling worked out for you?
I've been wondering if Diabolic intent was worth running, and it probably is.
Sudden Spoiling is an amazing card, and I would run it in any EDH deck that can run black cards. It's saved me so many times, and it's a great political card.
Needs Swamp Mosquito Ive killed someone with it before, because he couldnt deal with it when I played it turn 2
Also Snake cult initiation makes your non poisons hit for 3 posion
tainted pact
every bad infect card even vector asp they count as general damage so why not? and most esential is serpent generator
you should also run every black pump badmoon and death pit offerings ,all of em you can get your grubby paws on, as long as your at it endless scream is better than howl when your general has regeneration, (even if it doesnt have a cute little baby being eaten on it)
also i think cards like exsenguinate are amazing as long as you dont run so many crap land, cabal coffers , urborg, thawing glaciers, vesuva, thats it
Diluting your deck with bad cards just because they have infect is an awful strategy. I use my general and proliferate as win cons in a basically mono black control deck; there's no reason to run worthless cards like Swamp Mosquito, Snake Cult Initiation, or Serpent Generator. The mosquito does nothing and doesn't even work with pump spells like the good infect creatures, and enchantments like snake cult initiation just open you up to being 2-for-1'd by any removal.
I used to run Bad Moon, and it did almost nothing. Any piece of equipment is better, and never helps your opponents (at least not by just being out, they could obviously steal it). And Death Pit Offering is garbage.
Snake Cult Initiation is not bad in any way shape or form. You can put it on Skithiryx, and he now deals 7 poison per swing. At the very, very least it's a way to make a non-infect creature an infection threat, but most of the time it's too much for your opponent to deal with. The only way it could be better is if it were an instant or an equipment.
Figured I'd start with a question - covered mana symbol or no? I know there are a couple of schools of thought on covering card elements, and I'm torn. I've been clicking the layer with Jenara's wing covering the mana symbols off and on for almost an hour now, and I can't decide. I even tried making the wing slightly transparent, but there's not enough light coming from the right direction to really sell the effect and make it read properly.
What I mean here is that Jace, The Mind Sculptor was powerful but not so powerful there's zero way to get around him. That's what I mean when I say you're "ok to print" a powerful Urza - its been demonstrated that Wizards is developing a better handle on power balancing, to a degree.
If you look at their card effects and think about them from a Vorthos-y perspective, Karn is technically more powerful than Nicol Bolas since he appears to have mastery over time itself. If you think of the duel between you and the other player as an actual wizards duel, then Karn joining the fight, he eventually just says "screw this, lets start over" and takes you back in time to the start of the duel.
It could be argued that Nicol Bolas has a similar power level *in game*, based on his card abilities, but thematically, Karn seems to be the more powerful planeswalker, since everything Nicol Bolas does affects the current duel and he doesn't seem to have the ability to exile things from the current "plane" the duel is taking place on.
When I was thinking about it originally, I had forgotten that Karn had taken Venser's spark, though, and that he lost most of his original spark trying to save Tolaria, but it appears that he still has some of Urza's power within him based on Karn, Liberated. I'd argue that Karn is the more powerful of the two, if it were to ever come down to a one on one fight in the lore.
Jace, Architect of Thought is powerful, sure, my timeline got screwy and I was thinking Mind Sculptor came after Architect for some reason. My feeling is we need a new set of the "lorwyn five", though as they've become the poster children for "New Magic", you could be right in that they aren't experiencing a sunset. The fact that they've only truly "killed" planeswalkers that aren't among the Five certainly is a point towards your way of thinking.
I feel like we're looking at the last versions of the Five for a while. Ajani looks to have gotten his "Mind Sculptor" treatment with Mentor of Heroes, Elspeth was sunsetted in grand fashion, Liliana (who most people seem to forget is a planeswalker, so kudos for getting her on the list) is off god knows where, not contributing to the storyline at all (selfish necromancers...).
If Wizards is slowly sunsetting the original planeswalkers, I say kudos and they couldn't have given each a better send off. I could use one more version of Liliana, though.
What I'd really, really like to see (though it won't happen) is the return of the "Golden Age" planeswalkers, in maybe a Timeshifted set or something. I'm talking Urza, Teferi, et al. Urza especially. Sure, he'd have to have some ungodly power, but I feel like once you print Mind Sculptor, you're OK to print a powerful Urza Planeswalker. And yes, I know technically Wizards gave us a "version" of Urza since Karn has Urza's spark, or some of his essence, I can't recall which exactly, and technically (if you think about it from a lore perspective) Karn is the most powerful planeswalker of all, since he basically struts around booting things (including other planeswalkers) off of whatever plane he's on, then rewinds time itself and calls back the stuff he booted off the plane. If that ain't power I dunno what is.
So much better than the original artwork. One thing - since Young Pyromancer is an uncommon, I don't think it would have the foil stamp in M15.
Edit: Not sure what I'm doing wrong with the Dropbox link wrapper. Any help?
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bwy96Q7nHCrDYUh4a210RVU4UTQ/edit
His phony auctions: http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/cctsubaki?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
Here's how I would fix them, if you're still interested in making these playable in your casual playgroup. Also in future, your abilities should only have one colon. Everything before it is the cost, everything after it is the ability.
Tropical Paradise
Land
When Tropical Paradise enters the battlefield, you lose 2 life.
T: Add U or G to your mana pool.
T, Pay 1 life, Exile Tropical Paradise: Search your library for an Island or Forst card and put it onto the battlefield. Then, shuffle your library.
The Invasion John Avon lands are my favourites of all time.
Snake Cult Initiation is not bad in any way shape or form. You can put it on Skithiryx, and he now deals 7 poison per swing. At the very, very least it's a way to make a non-infect creature an infection threat, but most of the time it's too much for your opponent to deal with. The only way it could be better is if it were an instant or an equipment.
Figured I'd start with a question - covered mana symbol or no? I know there are a couple of schools of thought on covering card elements, and I'm torn. I've been clicking the layer with Jenara's wing covering the mana symbols off and on for almost an hour now, and I can't decide. I even tried making the wing slightly transparent, but there's not enough light coming from the right direction to really sell the effect and make it read properly.
Thoughts? What's your preference?
Mana Visible
Mana Covered